This invention generally pertains to necktie retainers and more particularly to a two-portion necktie retainer utilizing hook-and-loop type material wherein one of the portions is adhered to the backside of the necktie fabric forming the display end thereof while the other portion is mounted on a wearer's shirt button, the two portions coacting by way of the hook-and-loop material to secure the terminal ends of the necktie in an orderly way to the front of the wearer's shirt.
Numerous and various jewelry type pins, tacks, and bars are available in the marketplace to solve the problem of preventing the terminal end of a necktie from getting disoriented and appearing messy when such necktie is worn. These type devices are not favored, however, when the purchase price of the necktie far exceeds the price of these type devices which may cause damage to the fabric material comprising the necktie. For example, some of the more exotic fabrics are damaged by penetrating the material with pins, tacks and the like as the holes made when the pins are pushed through the fabric remain even after the pins are removed. Further, these jewelry type necktie retainers may have rough parts and/or burrs on them and these will catch the fine threads of the necktie fabric causing damage which may not be repairable. In this respect, others have attempted to solve this problem by proposing various necktie retaining configurations which do not use pins, tacks and/or bars to hold the terminal ends of the necktie in place. Exemplary of these are proposals found in patents to Roop et al (No. 2,588,576) and Confino (No. 2,652,569) which utilize various configurations of fabric adhered to the backside surface of the necktie fabric and which have one or more buttonholes in them to be secured to a button on the shirt of a wearer. Other proposals are found in patents to Baker (No. 3,405,408) and Hagen (No. 3,487,471) which use various configurations of hook-and-loop type materials to hold the terminal ends of the necktie in place. All of these prior configurations of necktie retainers suffer from the same defect, and that is, it is assumed that all button closures on all shirts have the same button spacing. Thus, when these prior art retainers are mounted in position on the backside surface of a necktie, the buttonhole spacing is set and cannot be altered. In this respect, it may only be by chance that the necktie retainer buttonholes mate with a button on the wearer's shirt. Another problem prior art configurations is that they comprise too many individual parts and/or pieces, multiples of which must be mounted on both terminal ends of the necktie while other parts are large, i.e., they cover a large area of the backside surface of the necktie fabric adding bulk to the product.
It is, therefore, in accordance with one aspect of the present invention an object to provide a necktie retainer which comprises but two separate portions which cooperate to retain the terminal ends of a necktie and only one of the retainer portions is applied to the necktie.
It is in accordance with another aspect of the invention an object to provide a configuration for a necktie retainer which does not adversely affect the fabric material comprising the necktie and which may be applied to the necktie at the time of its manufacture or alternatively at a later time upon being purchased by the consumer.
It is in accordance with still another aspect of the invention an object to provide a configuration for a necktie retainer which gives the necktie wearer a wide latitude in the manner of tying the necktie while still providing a retainer which operates to hold the terminal ends thereof in a favorable position or orientation with respect to the front closure of the wearer's shirt.
It is in accordance with another aspect of the invention an object to provide a necktie retainer which is easily and economically made and is suitable for use with any width and/or length necktie while also being usable with any configuration of a button-down shirt closure.